Muddy Creek, Oregon
Russell Davis Williams, 91, who grew up on his family’s ranch in Muddy Creek, died Dec. 13, 2004, in Sun City, Calif., of emphysema.
He is a descendent of two early pioneer families of North Powder: his grandparents, Lemuel and Amanda Ellen Stewart Williams, and John Samuel and Susan Dealy Davis.
Mr. Williams was born Sept. 16, 1913, at Muddy Creek to Harry Chatterton and Ida Belle Davis Williams. He was the youngest of seven children and graduated from Muddy Creek High School.
He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1935 and served on the USS Minneapolis, which took him to Hawaii, through the Panama Canal, and to Central America.
After being discharged he married Cleo Maxine McGrath of North Powder Nov. 13, 1939, in Weiser, Idaho. He and his late brother, Ed Williams, a longtime Baker City resident, both worked for Basche-Sage Hardware Company for more than 30 years.
In 1951 Russell and Maxine moved to Payette, Idaho, where he served as Basche-Sage’s sales representative in southwestern Idaho and they raised two daughters. In 1978 they retired to Sun City.
Although he gave up trout fishing when he left the Northwest, he remained an avid fan of big band music and the New York Yankees throughout his life.
Mr. Williams is survived by his wife of 65 years, Maxine Williams of Sun City; two daughters, Diane and her husband, Gary Wilson, of Washington, D.C., and Maryann Green of Tacoma, Wash.; a sister, Hazel Toney of Baker City; four grandsons, Mark Russell Wilson, Matthew Christopher Wilson, Christopher Glenn Wilson and Justin Robert Green; one granddaughter, Carrie Elizabeth Green; four great-grandchildren and a sister-in-law, Vivian C. Davis of Spokane.
Mr. Williams was preceded in death by his parents; an infant daughter, Leila Belle Williams; and siblings, Lena May Cavin, Elmer Harry Williams, Maude Susan Nielson, Dora Ellen Lethlean, and Edward Samuel Williams.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, December 31, 2004
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor